


Heavy Little Secrets

by cdrlizziebean



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Modern Thedas, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 02:28:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6734263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cdrlizziebean/pseuds/cdrlizziebean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After surviving what is known in the law world as the Kirkwall Incident, Cullen Rutherford moves to New Haven for a fresh start. With a new job, a new roommate, and new neighbors, Cullen hopes to put his past behind him and focus on his career. Then he meets his neighbor, Erlyn, a flower shop owner with a fleeting smile and secrets of her own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my attempt at a modern au slow burn. Please forgive me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cullen and Erlyn meet for the first time and everything is a bit awkward.

  


They first met on an elevator going to the ninth floor of Skyhold Apartments. A least that was the first time Cullen had met her, hoodie flopped over her damp hair and water dripping from her nose. Erlyn was, unfortunately, preoccupied by her cell phone and answering her mother in hushed elvhen.

It had been raining all day, starting as a drizzle that morning and slowly increasing to a downpour by 4:30 that afternoon. Cullen had gotten in the elevator, shaking the last bit of rain from his coat jacket and umbrella, when a thin, tan hand grabbed the closing door with a loud smack.

Erlyn entered, soaked to the bone and dragging a floral suitcase behind her. She shifted her phone from one ear to the other, tucking it under the edge of her green hoodie, and without looking, slapped the button for floor nine. If she had looked, she would have noticed the button was already illuminated. She turned and settled beside Cullen without a word of acknowledgement, waiting for the doors to close before continuing her phone conversation.

Cullen didn’t understand a word she said, but found amusement in how she said them. She rolled her _r_ ’s and drew out her vowels for far too long, and even though he didn’t know the words, he knew the sentiment. It was the same tone he had when his sister called him, worried. She shifted the bag on her arm, uncomfortably, and tapped the back of her phone as she listened. Cullen noticed how her phone matched her suitcase which almost matched her floral boots that squelched as she shifted from foot to foot.

He went to clear his throat, to subtly inform his companion that she was not alone, when the elevator chimed. The doors opened and she bustled out, leaving soggy footprints in her wake.

Cullen followed suit, realizing almost too late that he had followed her all the way to her apartment. He had a right to. She had stopped across the hall from his new place. He was prepared for his speech to prove he wasn’t some crazed stalker: _I’m new here. Apartment 904. Across from yours, 905. I wasn’t following you honestly. I can prove it by magically inputting the door code I currently can’t remember._

He sighed. He had only been living here for four days, moving from Kirkwall and avoiding any inkling of his past. Erlyn paused her conversation to look up at him. The fingers of her free hand hovered over her own keypad. She watched him, quietly. She didn’t really react the way he thought she should have, with a man she didn’t know following her to her apartment. Most of her face was hidden under the shadow of her hoodie--her freckled nose peeked out and it wrinkled at him as she sniffed.

He moved to knock on the door, realizing the only way out would be to have Dorian rescue him before the girl actually thought him a stalker, but before his fist could hit the door, Dorian swung it open dramatically.

“Eri, darling. You’ve returned to us,” he exclaimed before turning to Cullen and exchanging a polite hello.

Erlyn spoke a few brisk elvhen words before shoving the phone in the back pocket of her jeans.

“Did you bring back gifts?” he continued, leaning against the doorframe and barring Cullen from entry.

She shook the hoodie from her head revealing a face splattered with freckles and dark red hair that almost shown black from the rain. Her hair clung to her pink cheeks in strange stringy patterns and red splotches cupped around her left eye, cutting a thin line across her raised eyebrow.

She paused a moment, shooting a cursory glance at Cullen before unzipping her suitcase just enough for her hand to slip inside and pull out a large bottle of wine. She twisted it like a small blade in her hand, and handed the unopened bottle to Dorian.

“Maker, bless you,” Dorian breathed, kissing the bottle. “I haven’t had a bottle of this in months. You really should visit your family more.” Erlyn tsked, zipping her suitcase closed.

“Oh, and I finished it,” she said, digging in her large bag. She drew out a book with a daisy shaped sticky note on the cover with _6/10_ scribbled in purple.

“A scathing review I see,” Dorian teased, accepting the book, tucking the bottle of wine under his arm. “I’ll have to let my colleague know you hated his dissertation.”

“I didn’t hate it,” she said with a smirk which faded as fast as it touched her lips.

“Of course. If you hated it, you wouldn’t have wasted your favorite sticky notes on it,” he laughed. “How was the trip?”

“Long,” she breathed. “My mother wouldn’t stop pestering me.”

“Ah, so I take it your brother went through with the wedding.”

“More apt Thelia foolishly thought marrying my brother was a good idea,” she mused. Her voice was quiet yet strong and surprisingly warm no matter how harsh her words. Every word she spoke seemed deliberate.

At this point, Cullen had been standing there like a dud for a good five minutes. He shifted on his feet and cleared his throat, turning towards Dorian. He wanted his new roommate to either move or...well, there wasn’t much of an or. He prefered him to move over anything else.

“Oh, Cullen, yes. Eri, this is my new roommate, Cullen.”

Her eyebrows rose. “What happened to the _old_ roommate?”

“He and I had a difference of opinion,” Dorian returned with a huff. “Cullen, this is Erlyn. My greatest friend and the most fabulous beard if you ever need one.”

It took a brief moment for Cullen to realize what Dorian was saying. “I don’t think--” Cullen rose his hand in protest. This was going in a direction he would rather avoid. In the few short days Cullen had been living with Dorian, the Tevinter history professor had a gift of getting Cullen into situations he’d rather avoid.

“Right.” Dorian laughed at his the expense of his roommate. “Great girlfriend otherwise, I suppose. If you’re into that sort of thing.” Dorian winked at Erlyn.

Cullen felt a blush rise into his face. He ran his hand through his curled hair, looking away. Erlyn rolled her eyes, turning to her keypad and typing in her code. The door clicked open and she turned back towards them.

“Where’s Jose? Didn’t she pick you up?” Dorian asked, still grinning.

Erlyn shook her head. “She was working. I didn’t want to bother her.”

“Bother her? I doubt you would have been a bother. You could have called me, at the very least.”

She smiled weakly at him, shaking her head. “No, I was fine.”

“How did you get home then?”

“The tram was close to the airport.”

“But the tram isn’t close to here,” Dorian nearly shouted, dumbfounded. “It’s raining outside, Erlyn. For Maker’s sake.”

“I was fine,” Erlyn repeated. She turned to Cullen, bowing her head slightly. “Pleasure to meet you, Cullen,” she said briskly before pushing her way into her apartment. The door closed quietly behind her.

“What am I to do with that one,” Dorian chuckled. He looked at Cullen, who still stared at the closed door.  “She’s normally not this dreary, I promise.” Dorian lifted himself from the doorframe. Cullen gave Dorian a short nod.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Cullen breathed, looking back at the closed door of 905 before following Dorian back into the apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erlyn and Cullen are the epitome of awkward and Sera doesn't like to sleep in her own bed.

 

Erlyn jumped to the sound of her phone alarm. It was one of those old Dalish songs set to some folk dubstep she hadn’t really gotten into, but definitely woke her up. She shifted under her covers, pulling her phone close to her face. She stretched her toes and instantly felt someone else’s foot in her bed. She froze, clutching her phone, screen brightly shining behind her. She turned her head to see a small woman with blonde hair streaked in red.

“Sera,” she sighed. The woman flipped over, wrapping her arms around Erlyn’s waist and snuggled in. “What are you doing here? Did Josephine let you in?” The last question seemed useless. She knew that Sera had swiped a copy of the landlord’s key card. She could get into any apartment at Skyhold if she wanted. Instead, she spent half her time in Erlyn and Josephine’s apartment, playing their game video games, eating their food, and apparently using Erlyn as a heater..

“I missed you.”

“Is that why you smell like stale elfroot?” Erlyn looked at her phone. The screen read  _ 8:17. _ Erlyn wondered how Sera functioned being nearly perpetually high on elfroot.

Sera hummed against Erlyn’s back before sucking in a deep breath. With a heavy sigh, Erlyn wriggled out from Sera’s grasp and sat up on the edge of her bed. Sera recoiled from the sudden draft and pulled Erlyn’s comforter from her.

“You still haven’t told me why you’re here,” Erlyn persisted, crossing her small bedroom to her closet. The morning light trickled through the half open window and shone across the bed which took up most of the room, tucked under the window and between the door. At the end of the bed was a bookshelf stuffed with books and dusty cds, a bean bag chair that had seen better days, and a small dresser that could have doubled as a side table if there had been room.

“I said I  _ missed  _ you,” Sera returned, voice muffled by the fluffy plum comforter.

Erlyn turned away from the closet, pulling a teal sweater from the hanger. She glared at Sera who peaked out from under the covers like a child caught in a white lie. “Alright, Cole is doing some freaky seance thing tonight and has been prepping the apartment since yesterday..” Erlyn snorted.

“And you haven’t said anything to Mr. Solas?”

“That egg? Fuck, I think he’s involved.”  Sera sat up. Her hair a wild mess on top of her head. Erlyn shrugged, pulling the  _ First Enchanters’ _ Lacrosse t-shirt she had slept in over her head. She tossed the worn shirt onto the end of her bed. Solas was their landlord. He was a bit grouchy, always complaining about how it used to be better and how they were all ungrateful. He reminded Erlyn of her grandfather.

“It’s freaky to be honest. I don’t know why the kid does it.”

“Maybe because people pay good money to speak to the dead?” Erlyn mused.

Sera scoffed. “Why would anyone do that?” Erlyn fished out a pair of jeans from one of the boxes in the bottom of her closet and slipped them on. She had lived in Skyhold for nearly five years and yet, half her clothes sat in boxes in the bottom of her tiny closet. It made it easier to pack everything she had back up and take it away. It made it easier for her be able to disappear quickly.

“Did you meet Dorian’s new roommate? Cody, Cory?”

“Cullen.”

“Oh,” Sera teased, “you have met him. Isn’t he peculiar?”

Erlyn slipped on her tan flats, and turned to Sera. “Not particularly. If anyone is peculiar, it’s you,” she returned almost too deadpan to be a joke. Sera wrinkled her nose, pulled the comforter above her head, and disappeared under the covers. Erlyn sighed, lightly smacking the Sera shaped lump in her bed before heading for the bathroom.

 

Across the hall, Cullen woke to the sound of Cassandra obsessively calling him. He knew it was Cassandra who was calling. He had set her ringtone to a blaring car alarm. She had left him half a dozen text messages before giving up and calling him.

 

**Cass:** Are you awake yet?

**Cass:** Are you seriously still asleep?

**Cass:** You make me come all the way to this shite town just to ignore me?

**Cass:** Answer your damn phone.

 

Cullen had overslept because for the umpteenth time, he had spent most of the night fighting off nightmares. He slid his finger across his phone screen and waited a beat before placing it against his ear, afraid Cassandra would start the conversation with yelling.

“Good morning to you too, princess,” he mused, voice low and thick with sleep.

“Don’t ever call me that,” she growled before composing herself. “I’m waiting around the corner from your apartment. Isn’t today when you wanted to look at places to set up shop? Or did I mistake that for some other day on your nonexistent calendar?”

Cullen chuckled. Cassandra had scolded him a dozen times on the flight to New Haven to start keeping his agenda on the shared calendar in his phone. There was no way they were going to be able to be partners, running a successful law firm, if she had no idea what in Andraste’s name he was doing.

“Give me ten minutes and I’ll come down. Unless you want to come up here and wait?”

“Oh, Maker, no. I don’t want to start my morning by entertaining your roommate.” Even though her words were harsh, Cullen could hear the edge of a laugh in her voice. Cassandra Pentaghast was a stern woman, but she was also kind. She was hard on Cullen, but she had her reasons. She had been there when everything went to shit in Kirkwall. She was there to make sure he didn’t take the fall for the firm. “No more than ten minutes or I’m leaving.”

The phone clicked and there was silence on the line. Cullen rolled over, pulled himself up, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He had ten minutes to pull himself together. He wondered if that included coffee.

 

Exactly nine minutes later, Cullen had dressed himself in gray slacks and a white button down shirt, grabbed his briefcase, and closed his apartment door behind him without waking his roommate from his deep, snoring slumber. He turned for the elevator just as Erlyn ducked out of her apartment, messenger bag settled across her chest.

She paused for a moment, as if to register that someone was in front of her. She blinked, brushing a strand of dark red hair away from her face and back into the curls carefully pinned behind her ears. Cullen noticed the silver engraved cusp along the edge of Erlyn’s right ear. The left had two small silver studs in the upper part of her ear. He hadn’t noticed them yesterday, and was surprised he hadn’t. The red splotches from the day before were still there circling her eye like a tattoo on her skin. She hadn’t attempted to cover them with makeup. Instead, her face remained mostly bare except for the thin line of eyeliner and the thickening of her eyelashes.

“Good morning,” he breathed.

“Morning,” she said before turning for the elevator. Cullen stumbled after her, knowing that he couldn’t keep Cassandra waiting any longer or she would leave.

They ended up side by side in the elevator again without a word passing between them. Erlyn pressed the button for the first floor and watched the doors close with her hands tightly wrapped around the strap of her bag.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” she whispered as soon as the elevator jerked downward.

“What?”

“I’m sorry if I seemed rude yesterday,” she explained. “I...I’m not good with airplanes and it had been a while since I had visited family. It’s not really a good excuse but…” There were also a hundred other reasons. How her family made her feel bad for living so far away. How it had been four years since she last saw them and under the worst circumstances she could think of.

“...It’s the only excuse I have. So I’m sorry.” She turned to look at him. Neither hadn’t realized how much of a height difference there was between them. He was definitely over six foot two and she was scraping by at five foot four.

Cullen smiled at her and she looked away, focusing on the orange glow of the one button. The elevator came to a stop and Erlyn jumped out as quickly as she could.

She stopped a moment, hearing the doors close and Cullen’s footstep. She turned back to him, surprising him as she suddenly stuck her hand out. “Let’s start over. My name is Erlyn Lavellan but most people call me Eri.”

Cullen hesitated a moment, staring at her hand, before taking it firmly in his. As his grip tightened, her hand disappeared in his. “I’m Cullen. Cullen Rutherford. It’s nice to meet you, Eri,” he returned. The way he said her name made her light-headed, and she hated it.

“Nice to meet you too,” she said quickly, pulling her hand away. “Anyway...I’ll be going now. I have to get to work.” She gave a curt nod, spun on the heels of her tan flats, and sped for the door. 


End file.
